How a brush with death led Leonard Garcia to MMA and a WEC title fight

At 18 years old and away from his grandparents’ strict care for the first time, Leonard Garcia was out one night with friends in Lubbock, Texas.

It was almost 15 years ago, and the skilled football player with fighting chops (gained from boxing uncles in the family home) was hanging out with friends in a Taco Cabana joint.

Soon, a man came to their table and, inexplicably, lifted a fistful of nachos from Garcia’s meal. Not one to back down, Garcia quickly threw punches, and the man was booted out.

“The next thing I know, he’s yelling at me to step out in the street,” Garcia told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I said, ‘Dude, I already beat you up.’ He came after me. We fought again. He was pretty banged up, but he had pulled a knife.”

Garcia received eight stab wounds in the struggle, including punctures in both lungs. The emergency room trip spared any more damage, but the wounds ended a small-college football opportunity.

Soon after, Garcia (12-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) began a winding mixed-martial-arts career that continues Sunday when he challenges Mike Brown for the WEC featherweight title at WEC 39. The bout headlines the card and is the next in a line of notable 145-pound matches in the featherweight-strong WEC.

For Garcia, it has been no lightweight life. Raised by a grandfather who made his living breaking horses, Garcia was taught toughness and confidence that he brings with him to the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, this weekend.

“This is the biggest stage I’ve ever been on,” Garcia said. “I don’t see myself losing this fight. I’m 5-0 in championship fights, and I do my best work in pressure situations. I feel like I’m up for the challenge.”

On the farm

Garcia’s life could’ve been a bigger challenge from Day 1, when his 17-year-old mother moved him to his grandparents’ Plainview, Texas home. Garcia entered a loving but strict world of convenience-store and farming experience that molded his work ethic.

While friends were staying at each others’ houses late and hanging out after school, Garcia was tending to chores.

“You would hear, ‘We did this over the weekend; we did that.’ I was shoeing horses,” Garcia said. “I would hot walk them, clean out the horse bins, feed the cows and the pigs.”

Garcia was a scrappy kid, a trait encouraged by his grandfather. The man Garcia calls “Dad” kept old pairs of boxing gloves in the house, which settled arguments within the family.

Living with older uncles, Garcia had his share of disagreements.

“Dad would say, ‘If you guys got a problem, go ahead and fight it out,'” Garcia said. “I wouldn’t back down. Sometimes I would be in tears and still fighting. They were bigger than me, but I kept coming. Dad saw what I was doing, and he got me involved in martial arts and boxing.”

Martial arts didn’t turn serious until after the stabbing incident, when Garcia attended a local show. The promoter sought him out in the audience and told him he had a cancellation. He offered Garcia $150 to fight, and Garcia jumped.

“I never looked back,” he said.

A bumpy road

The career, though, hasn’t been steady. After several years, Garcia stopped fighting because the money wasn’t supporting him. For three years, he was barely training or competing, and the break allowed him unneeded free time.

“I got myself into trouble,” Garcia said. “I didn’t have anything to focus on, and I hung out with some bad people. I let my life take a turn for the worse.”

Looking to break out of that path, Garcia took a phone call from his manager in early 2006. Still holding an 8-1 professional record, he appeared in Ring of Fire 23 and pounded a respected Rocky Johnson.

Soon, the UFC called, and Garcia auditioned for the fifth season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He was one of 19 finalists selected to appear on the show, but a medical exam showed a hairline fracture in his wrist that excluded him.

Garcia again found himself at home, wondering where next fight would be.

“I got another call,” Garcia said. “It was, ‘Hey, we were really impressed by you. We want you to fight Roger Huerta in UFC 69. You’ve got a month from today.'”

Garcia lost that fight, a picture of which later graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, by unanimous decision, but he beat Allen Berube with a first-round rear naked choke at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale before losing another unanimous decision, this time to Cole Miller at UFC Fight Night 11.

Following that string with a pair of first-round WEC lightweight wins, Garcia has set himself up for this championship fight after a bumpy road threatened to throw him off course.

“This fight is huge for both of us,” Garcia said of Brown and himself. “He’s had his reign as champion. He had his highlight. I think this is my time.

“This is the fight in my career that changes it.”

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel is the lead features writer for MMAjunkie.com.

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